UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
The city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996 thanks to its gigantic ossuary of huge and bulky ramparts and palaces, that the city owes to the reign of Sultan Moulay Ismail, who was behind the first great work of the Alawite dynasty, reflecting the greatness of its designer.
A circuit of nearly 13 kilometers allows to appreciate the size of the ramparts covering a historic belt of 40 kilometers.
The presence of this historic city today, containing rare remains and important monuments in the midst of a changing urban space, gives this urban heritage its universal value.
The features of Meknes reflect its outstanding universal value and relate partly to the monuments and partly to the entire urban fabric of the city, illustrating its shape of the 17th century.
The medina and its kasbah contain all the elements that testify to the exceptional universal value of this particular site : fortifications, urban fabric, earth architecture, civil, military and cultual buildings and gardens.